This is the last week of this semester and of this year - yipppeeee! Monday, December 18, 2006: Today we will watch the last act of HAMLET and then we will read "Grave Digger's Scene" and discuss. Your Act iV Test is due today. Wednesday, December 20, 2006: THE FINAL! 10:20 TO 12:39! Your Act V test will be due on the day of the final along with your essay. I will check out FRANKENSTEIN and CRIME AND PUNISHMENT to you today along with the textbook and a syllabus of pages you should read during the break. Please give me your e-mail address so you can be notified of when and where the two weeks of classes will be held. HAPPY HOLIDAYS! JKATE BRIDGES
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Suggested Topics for Ye Olde Hamlet Essay Choose one essay topic and write a minimum three page essay. This will be due on the day of the final! 1.Examine the motif of disease and decay in the play, HAMLET. How does Shakespeare use these motifs to explore the dilemma of a man trying to find good in a morally corrupt world? Find specific references to disease and decay in the play and be sure to cite them in order to support your thesis. 2.Examine the motif of spying in HAMLET. Who spies on whom and for what purpose? How does that relate to the overall paranoia of the castle at Elsinore? How does that relate to the overarching theme of lies and deceit in the play? 3.Examine the role of women in HAMLET. What does Shakespeare seem to be saying about the fairer sex? By examining the behavior of the women in the play, do you think Shakespeare is right when he has Hamlet howling,”Frailty! Thy name is Woman!” Or could it be that the attitude of the men toward Ophelia and to a lesser e...
DECEMBER 11TH WEEKLY SCHEDULE FOR AP ENGLISH LITERATURE Congratulations on an amazing and wonderful performance! You are all fabulous! (No wonder you guys were exhausted! But your exhaustion and hours of rehearsal and pain were worth it because you were all really, really wonderful - no kidding! Now, back to Shakespeare!) Some general commentary regarding the class: I will check out to you a copy of Dostoevsky’s CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN, and the text book, ENGLAND IN LITERATURE, plus a reading syllabus for the text book. (Don’t lose the book - it’s expensive!) We will have class the last week of the vacation, probably for five days from 8 or 9 to about twelve or one each day. It will be grueling; it will be intense, but it will be necessary. BUT, I have a proposition for you: How many of you would be able to attend about ten hours of class (approximately two hours a day - say 12 to 2 pm) the last week of January? We could work on FRANKENSTEIN and the p...
DECODING SHAKESPEARE Act lll, Scene 2: The Players’ Scene: Full thirty times hath Phoebus’ cart gone round Neptune’s salt wash and Tellus’ (orbed) ground, And thirty dozen moons with borrowed sheen About the world have times twelve thirties been Since love our hearts and Hymen did our hands Unite commutual in most sacred bands. ****************************************************************************************************************************** First: What literary device is being used in the Player King's speech to the Player Queen? What or who is Phoebus? (The sun god, and his cart is his chariot.) How many times has the chariot “gone round”? Why is the moon “with borrowed sheen”? Do you think they knew the moon shone not with its own light, but with the reflected (borrowed) light from the sun? What has the cart “gone round” (circled)? Who was Neptune? (Hint: the Roman name for the Greek god, Poseidon, who ruled over the ocean). Who or what is Tellus? (Hint: Roman...
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 4TH, 2006 Monday, December 4th: Finish reading Act lll of Hamlet . A few small handouts to help with decoding Shakespeare. Tuesday, December 5th: Your lovely “Unscrambling Adjective Clauses” is due today which we will briefly go over. We all need a break (including Kenneth Branagh) so I’m going to show you the Mel Gibson’ DVD version of HAMLET. Wednesday, December 6th: Please bring your VOCABULARY WORKSHOP book. I will assign Unit Four which will be due on Tuesday, December 12th - the last vocabulary assignment of the year! Your Act lll of Hamlet is due today. We will begin reading Act lV. SPOILER ALERT: I am going to give you the wee small Act lV quiz today, but don’t read it over yet! In the past students have glanced over the test and were disappointed....and not because they were given a test.... Thursday, December 7th: In lieu of a test over your Unit Four vocabulary words, please choose five random words from the list and use th...
This is for Caroline and for anyone else who did not get the Act lll quiz: ANOTHER WEE SMALL QUIZ OVER HAMLET ACT lll l. Put in order of sequence: A._____Hamlet asks Horatio to observe Claudius’ reaction to the play. B._____When the players perform in “dumb show” the murder of the king, Claudius rushes out of the performance. C.______Claudius and Polonius hide behind an arras and observe Ophelia’s contrived meeting with Hamlet. D.______Convinced that Hamlet’s bizarre behavior is not the result of unrequited love, Claudius informs Polonius that Hamlet must be sent away immediately to England E. ______Hamlet stabs Polonius to death as he hides behind the arras in Gertrude’s bedroom. F. ______While the king and Polonius hide and observe Ophelia’s contrived meeting with Hamlet, the prince insults her and tells her to “get thee to a nunnery.” G.______Hamlet argues with his mother, Gertrude, over her marriage to Claudius and counsels her to refrain from sleeping with the king. H.______Durin...